Life Before Death

written by

Brandon Ingram

Contact: bingramproductions@gmail.com
All sequences are in black and white.

INT. CAR - NIGHT

As he wakes up, ALAN, scruffy looking guy in his early 40s,
begins to open his eyes.
Across his forehead is a gash.
A seat belt is over him, with a steering wheel directly in
front of him.

Still from the inside of the car, the shot is then flipped,
revealing that Alan is actually upside down in his car.
His lights inside his car seem to barely be working, as some
flicker in and out.
There are things strewn about in his car due to it being
upside down, including several noticeably open beer cans.
A puddle of water is rising below Alan's head.
Adjusting from having just woken up from an accident, he
wipes his eyes from his upside down position.
Alan looks to the left at the intact window on the driver
side door.
He doesn't see much, as it is too dark outside the window.
Alan reaches for the seat belt, fumbling with it, as he tries
to release himself.
He eventually presses the seat belt buckle.
Alan is released by the seat belt, and his head and back hit
the ceiling below him rather hard.
In pain, he gets up and sits on the ceiling.
Having landed in the puddle of water that is beneath him,
Alan looks at his now wet clothing in confusion.
He looks up and opens the upside down glove compartment. When
doing so, most of the contents that were within it quickly
fall out.
Alan grabs the flashlight that is among the things that fell
out of the glove compartment.
He turns the flashlight on and shines it out the driver-side
window.
 2.

What Alan sees is an oddity to him. He sees a fish in front

of the window.
He stares eye-to-eye with the fish, as his expression is one
of shocked confusion.
The fish then swims away from the window into the darkness
that neither us nor Alan can see into.
Alan realizes where he is.
CUT TO:

EXT. BOTTOM OF A RIVER - NIGHT

Resting at what appears to be at least 30 feet of pitch black
water, we see a shot of the car upside down. The only thing
seen in this darkness is the light illuminated from inside
the car.
CUT BACK TO:

INT. CAR - NIGHT

Alan is terrified by the realization of where he is.
He looks at the windshield. It is fairly beat up, with cracks
running all through it.
Alan sees a steady stream of water flowing from these cracks.

He follows the trail of water coming from the cracks with his
eyes. It goes down into the large puddle that is increasing
in size beneath him.
Alan panics, and to possibly call for help, he feels the
outside of his pockets, but no luck. His phone is not felt
within them.
He begins to look around the clutter in the front of the car
for his phone.
While Alan is looking, the windshield cracks get ever so
bigger.
He then goes into the back of the car to look around the
clutter there for his phone.
While Alan is moving beer cans aside to find his phone, the
windshield's cracks greatly increase in size and take in more
water.
 3.

He eventually finds his phone with its back facing up and it

being soaking wet from water.
He flips it over only to see that the screen has been crushed
and cracked.
Alan presses the power button on the phone, but nothing
happens.
The expression on his face is one of only true sadness and
distress.
Just then, Alan hears a loud cracking noise in front of him.
He looks up to see where the sound came from.
The cracks from the windshield are now stretching further and
further at a more rapid pace, with more and more water coming
in through them.
Alan's face conveys absolute fear.
The windshield is crushed from the pressure, as water quickly
floods in.
Alan is hit by the pressurized water as it engulfs all of the
inside of the car.
Due to the force of the water, Alan hits the back of his head
on the center console of the car with great force.
With the back of his head now bleeding, Alan begins to try to
swim out of the now open windshield in a panicked frenzy.
While he attempts to swim up, the darkness of the water
occupies the space around him.
There is dark, cloudy blood flowing from the back of his head
as he swims up.
While panicking for dear life, Alan begins to see the
smallest bit of moonlight at the top as he gets closer to it.
As Alan's head emerges from the water, he takes a large
breath in. This is a loud breath, and the closest thing to
dialogue that we have. This breath is him taking in life — a
life that nearly didn't escape death.
Alan coughs profusely and takes in deep breathes as he his
treading water.
He smiles a smile of someone who is truly happy to be alive.
This is interrupted when he hears a loud crying behind him.
 4.

Alan turns around in the water, and what he sees is a bridge.

Part of the side rails of the bridge are broken outward,
presumably where the car drove off into the water. Near that,
there is a totaled vehicle on the bridge.
There are a couple of police vehicles up on the bridge, with
their red and blue police lights being the only thing up to
this point that breaks the black and white color tone.
The color tone is disrupted once again as an ambulance with
its vibrant red and white lights flashing, pulls up on the
scene.
Near one of the police vehicles, a WOMAN is crying with a
POLICE OFFICER there trying to comfort her.
The answer to why the Woman is in so much distress comes in
the form of what is next. A SERGEANT POLICE OFFICER is
performing chest compressions on the body of a TEENAGE GIRL
near them.
The Sergeant Police Officer feels for the Teenage Girl's
pulse.
With a saddened look, he looks back up at a NEARBY POLICE
OFFICER and shakes his head, as he indicates to the Officer
in this fashion that the Teenage Girl is dead.
With a sorrowful look, the Nearby Police Officer takes off
his police hat and looks down.
The crying Woman sees this and begins crying even louder.
The EMTs are now getting out of their ambulance and rushing
over to the Teenage Girl.
With the cries of the Woman now out of scene, Alan is seen in
the water with an expression that once conveyed a happiness
to be alive, but now conveys the shocking reality of having
taken the life of another.
END.